S: With the 15th anniversary of the Tales of franchise, what do you think has been the biggest change in JRPGs in general in Japan? And how has the Tales of series changed during that time?

Hideo Baba, Producer: Iím afraid to say that itís how the sheer numbers alone have gone down. Fifteen years ago, you saw a great variety of games coming out for the PSOne. But nowadays, you can count the number of games on one hand.

In regards to our franchise, not much has changed. Because it has been built upon the foundation of anime and manga culture, which all Japanese game players have grown up with. Thatís always something weíve tried hard to tap into and celebrate. To a certain extent, the Tales of games is a celebration of our identity.

S: Why do you believe is the reason for the decline?

HB: There are several reason, but a major one is how the game industry in Japan has gotten much smaller over the years. That and JRPGs themselves take so long to complete. Which has always been the case, but with the rise of casual games, mobile gamesÖ gaming as a whole has become so dispersed.

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=200357

I saw this on the 3ds board and thought it would make sense here cause this is the system with tales games.

While it's true that jrpg's on consoles are a bit scarace, the genre has flourished on portable systems in the past 15 years. The GBA, DS, PSP had an absolutely amazing library of jrpg's and many of which were localized. Now the next generation handhelds seek to continue that tradition. The 3DS has a really nice selection of jrpg's and it's ever-growing. The Vita has a nice selection of jrpg's already released in Japan or will. Baba needs to understand the reverence people have for the genre.---A Night At The Woodbury - http://i.imgur.com/985hj47.gif 3DS FC: 3394-3716-0128 Vita PSN: Queen_Sialeeds

The whole thing is a better read. Actually love his interviews, he realizes the current state of things and what possible solutions there could be. Even better takes in consideration the people actually buying the games. Something rare in Japanese devs.---PSN: Valkerion7 (KoF13:Benimaru, Shen, Daimon ) (BBCS: Litchi/Valkenhayn) ~ (SSF4: Rose/Makoto)~ (GG: Anji, I-No) XBL: ValkerionSeven (Same games as PS3)

Baba is one of the best at PR spin, but usually his words never match up to the actions taken by the company.---Xbox & PS3 gametag = StrikeNinja24And if Strike didn't stroke his own peen, then nobody would. - Super-Pangolin

While it's true that jrpg's on consoles are a bit scarace, the genre has flourished on portable systems in the past 15 years. The GBA, DS, PSP had an absolutely amazing library of jrpg's and many of which were localized. Now the next generation handhelds seek to continue that tradition. The 3DS has a really nice selection of jrpg's and it's ever-growing. The Vita has a nice selection of jrpg's already released in Japan or will. Baba needs to understand the reverence people have for the genre.

Does Japan have a lot more than we do? I only know of one jrpg for the Vita and that's Persona 4.

Well Baba, l'm pre-ordering the 100 dollar limited edition Tales of Xillia tomorrow, l'mma help out meh fellah favorito genre.---656Stooge: "But he's Australian. Like me. Not everyone is American you know. Only the unlucky ones :)"

The "boom" of shooters has die down since the beginning of this year. Less and less people are playing them now. Plus, I know a lot of people that claim to watch "everything" on Netflix now. I say a JRPG is a good way to keep people entertain for a while. But the problem is how to get them to even touch it or sit through an hour of the game without wanting to kill something.---Joy is to the ears that hear not the mouth that speaks.Chronicles of the Unbeliever

People may say that JRPGs don't sell well in the US, so JRPG developers are phasing them out to capitalize on the global market... But I think part of the reason they don't sell well in the US is because they never really get released over here.

If and when they do, they are given very little in the way of promotion (because, of course, "only a niche crowd is going to buy it anyway"). It's a self-destructive spiral.----Tom